READING, A CURE FOR POOR MEDICAL WRITING
R. J. H.
Dr. Inglefinger, editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, pointed out that part of the difficulty in medical writing today arises from the "massive infiltration of language by the words of an extravagant technology, authorship by committee, and the failure—even inability!—of doctors to read." The cure, he points out, lies neither in "scolding" nor "the occasional writing course." "The only hope, and perhaps a faint one, is to encourage the student and graduate in medicine to take up serious non-professional reading .... Only by determined practice will they read more fluently .... Only by efforts of this type will the prose of their articles change ... provided, of course, some busybody editor does not delete the colorful in favor of the drab."1
